Sexual violence, rape, and inequality have plagued refugee camps across war-torn countries for decades. Women and children are susceptible to sexual violence during times of conflict. Thousands are victims of these crimes and are forever impacted by the effects, both mentally and physically. They rely on international civil servants to help during their time of need, yet there have been many cases where those very civil servants, and international relief workers have been the culprits. < = Good The United Nations and other major humanitarian relief organizations have recently come under fire as many victims have spoken up about being raped or being sexually assaulted in any way. Civil servants, humanitarian workers, peacekeepers, and contractors may seem like the peaceful do-gooders, yet reports by victims have shown otherwise. <= Clear and well articulated thesis …show more content…
(p.54) After this, many testimonies were received about similar incidents. The UN’s office of internal oversight services responded with a report saying that “each part of the enforcement architecture, with distributed roles and partial responsibility, tends to see the others as responsible for performance short falls.”(p.54) Good use of citation This statement made in a UN sexual exploitation and abuse report leaves many questioning the amount of attention paid to ensure that justice is served to the culprits and indemnification to the victims of ill-treatment by the UN staff and other organizations personnel in these camps and
Unfortunately, rape of female migrant farmworkers in the fields is a tragic phenomenon that is far too prevalent. These women are treated as sexual objects at the hands of their supervisors and coworkers, and are subsequently sexually harassed, abused, and raped. While sex plays a role in these crimes, the primary motivator behind sexual abuse in the fields is the power of the perpetrators coming into play with the powerlessness and vulnerability of the women workers.
“…the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Save the Children released a report on their investigation into allegations of sexual abuse of West African refugee children in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Their interviews with 1500 men, women, and children refugees revealed that girls between the ages of 13 and 18 were sexually exploited by male aid workers, many of whom were employed by national and international non-governmental agencies (NGOs) and the UN, and also by UN peacekeepers and community leaders.” (Hynes 2004:
As part of their effort to depict refugees as a threat to Americans, President Trump and other politicians have claimed that most of those fleeing Syria are young males. In fact, half of Syrian refugees — like all refugees worldwide — are women, and unlike men, they’re often forced to flee because of gender-based persecution such as rape, honor killing, forced marriage, and genital mutilation. And when they flee, they’re also vulnerable to sexual assault and sexual harassment from border security officials and detention center
During the Rwandan genocide, some rapes occurred recurrently throughout a timespan. “Sexual enslavements occurred when a woman was detained, typically in the house of an Interhamwe, and subjected to repeated sexual assaults over a period of days,” (Mullins 727). These kinds of rapes belong in their own category because of the added element of confinement and intent to continually rape and therefore, harm. An Interhamwe soldier named Rafiki, personally sought out one Tutsi woman whom he had
According to ICRtoP, the Democratic Republic of Congo is reported to be the “rape capital of the world” with an estimated 15,000 rape cases in the Congo’s eastern provinces alone. Rape is a tool of war used by the various armed forces in the Congo in order to “create instability in
United States’ humanitarian relief efforts have recently focused much of their efforts on involving the livelihood of Afghanistan women. For decades, these women have been frequent victims of abuse, despite some success by authorities in prosecuting rape cases, forced marriages and domestic violence. Child marriage, selling and buying women to settle disputes, assault and more than a dozen other acts of violence and abuse against women are a common norm in Afghan society. About 87% of women experience physical, psychological or sexual violence. Incidents of violence against women remain largely under-reported because of cultural restraints, social norms and religious beliefs. Because of widespread discrimination, fears of social stigma
Worldwide, each and every day, new individuals of all genders, ages, races and religions become victims of sexual assault. These horrific incidences have been recorded since ancient times, yet no noteworthy steps have been taken to reduce the number of occurrences. However, an even bigger issue related to sexual assault stems from a morally corrupt society and a backwards way of thinking. Many victims fail to speak up and report their assaults if they know the person, if the person is of important status, or if they are a person of authority and influence, because they are afraid of the repercussions. In the novel, The Kite Runner, rape is a greatly discussed and significant topic. Young boys in Afghanistan are being assaulted by local bullies from important families, and victims of all ages are being harassed and violated by the Taliban
On October 30th, 2014, over 220 women were raped in less than 36 hours in Tabit. The HRW (Human Rights Watch) had been following the case with caution. Although the Tibet government has been trying to hide this terrible case, a man told the HRW, “They said if I talked about Tabit again that I was going to be finished. They kicked me. Tied me and hanged me up. They beat me with whips and electric wires” (Human Rights Watch). This mass rape was claimed to be a “deliberate attack on Tabit and the mass rape of the town’s women and girls is a new low in the catalog of atrocities in Darfur” (Human Rights Watch). The Sudanese armed forces caused a mass rape of over 200 women as a political statement in war. One of the soldiers told a mother “You killed our man. We are going to show you true hell” (Humans Right
Internationally, sexual assault is more likely the result of conflict with or within a society or nation. Emily Rauhala goes into much depth concerning males as victims of sexual assault primarily in the South African Congo and how this is not as spoken upon. She provides information about detention facilities and prisons that have reportedly used sexual assault as a torture treatment during these war times. “In South Africa’s overcrowded, under-funded prisons, rape and sexual violence are used to define and maintain a strict social hierarchy in which victims are humiliated, dominated and feminized,” (Johnson 2014). Rauhala provides an account of a male in the Congo who tells of his experience with sexual assault and how it has changed his life forever.
It focuses on examining how violence impacts members of a specific gender, but most often focuses on its unique impacts on women. Authors such as Moon focus on how prostitution (including cases of forced prostitution in Japan) impact women specifically, as well as Moon and MacKinnon pointing to rape as a specific and horrific example of sexual and gender based violence (SGBV). However, as Jones notes, gendering genocide has specific implications for men as well. We find that men of “military” age are proportionally more often the victims of direct violence, particularly as it pertains to our two cases in Serbia and
Throughout this paper I will be focusing on Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. Women and very young girls are being raped or sexually assaulted
Part of the narrative of rape is missing from the numerous reports flooding the media about Congo. The part of the narrative missing is Congolese women lying about being raped to gain access to international aid. Sexual violence as a weapon of war?
Wartime rape is a topic that should have international attention and perpetrators should be held accountable. That should be obvious, however, that’s my opinion generated from growing up in a “first world” (developed, capitalist, with an industry based infrastructure) country, with work and education opportunities, predominately Christian ideology and with structured rules defining what’s illegal. Inhabitants of “third world” or developing countries have a significantly different environment and a low level of accountability to established governmental control. They face high levels of poverty, low economic development, and inadequate healthcare, prone to an unstable government, have high birth rates and lack a middle-class population.
Sexual Abuse is known to occur among any relationship, race, sex, and gender, including male victims and homosexual couples. When rape is committed, authorities do what’s possible in order to seek justice. However, when the authoritative ones are those whom commit the crime, it is nearly impossible to seek justice. In the military forces, rape is the main issue among the soldiers and the authority figures. Although men are victimized in several cases, women constantly suffer from unjustified rape. Participating in sexual assaults are led due to external theories of gender construction, such as the Social-Learning Theory, supporting the influence of patriarchy (Barbara F. McManus, pt. 3). Male authorities allow corruption of the military forces against rape, initiating obstacles towards the justice for women.
Every five minutes, four women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are raped. This means that 1,100 women are victims of sexual violence on a daily basis (Counting Sexual Violence in the Congo). Such exorbitant cases of rape have earned the DRC its title as “the rape capital of the world” (Citation -http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8650112.stm). Nevertheless, Congolese conventions regarding gender roles have facilitated massive infliction of sexual violence, especially on behalf of soldiers. This incorporation of rape into the sociocultural fabric of the DRC has, in turn, given way to a normalization of rape culture in the Congo, which has perpetuated and even enabled the sexual violence crisis. Moreover, the rape